Talk:Around & Around

From IcehouseOrg

This has the potential to be a fun kid's game, with a Candyland/Chutes and Ladders feel, but it needs some tweaking:

1. The rules didn't cover all the situations that could come up. I edited them to state what I believe the original intention was in the cases I found.

2. The game has too slow of a start. There is a 1/5 chance of rolling a star to take a piece out of home, so it won't be uncommon for a player to be waiting about 10 turns before he can do anything. I suggest a rule change: If a player has no pieces on the board, they may move a piece out of home without first rolling a star. If one piece is on the board and the other at home, the player must roll a star to move the other one out.

3. Most of the cards have no real effect on the game. Since the pieces mainly go around until they go up or down, moving to the next circle or star or plus doesn't make much of a difference.

4. There is some decision-making involved -- which piece to use the die roll on, and whom to play a star card on -- but it would be better if there were more decisions to be made, and tactics that could be done.

One way of handling both #3 and #4 above is to have this rule change: You keep cards you draw in your hand until you play them. When you play a card on a player -- yourself or others -- the action of the card is done instead of the die roll, or instead of a previous card played. Cards played are discarded, whether or not their action is carried out. At the end of your turn, if you have more than 3 cards in your hand, discard cards until you have only 3.

5. Rather than have all 3 decks be identical, it would be more interesting to have each symbol have different types of card in their deck (e.g. helping, hurting, moving around on the level), and allow any card to be played on anybody.